Remember The First Love
by drugged-on-chocolate
Summary: Henry and Danielle are long dead, but in 2005 or 2006 in Cambridge university there are two people reliving the past and trying to figure out their future.
1. Living up to expectations

AN: THIS IS NOT A MODERNISED VERSION OF EVER AFTER……..sorta

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I OWN NOTHING

They had this deal, Nicky, Jackie and Maggie, since their first year at Cambridge University, three years ago now. They would eat together at the restaurant down the road from their dorm the first night, and then Nicky and Jackie would leave Maggie alone at all possible moments. Just because Maggie had to share a room with them didn't mean that she had to admit they existed.

They sat around the table at the back of the restaurant waiting for their meals while Maggie told them both that this being their final year, this would be the last time they had dinner as a (gulp) _family._

Jackie smiled, "Don't worry, we wont stop you from squandering away your life." Nicky smiled into her drink at the look on Maggie's face.

They heard the door open and looked up to see two men walk in. Maggie was in a pile of drool at Nicky's feet before she stood up and turned on Jackie. "Ew!" she screamed in all her blonde glory, "How could you even think that I would sit with you?"

Jackie and Nicky both rolled their eyes, they knew this would happen. But even Nicky, who had never had a boyfriend in her life, had to admit, that this man was gorgeous, and the one next to him equally so. The men didn't seem as impressed as Maggie would have liked at her outburst and made their way to Jackie and Nicky.

"Hey," one said, "I'm Adam-"

_An apple flew through the air and hit the man square in the chest as he fell off the large black horse. _

"_Thief! This will teach you to steal my father's horse!" A lady cried, no she wasn't a lady, a servant maybe. _

"_Mine slipped a shoe, I have no choice," a tall man said cowering behind the horse._

"_And our choice is what? To let you?" the woman was relentless with the apples as she pelted him. "Get out or I'll wake the house," the woman cried as she threw one last apple. Then the hood of the man's cloak fell off to reveal his face. " Forgive me, Your Highness. I did not see you." She fell to her knees in fear._

_The man had a vaguely amused look on his face as he studied his shirt. "Your aim would suggest otherwise."_

_The woman was still on her knees waiting for the sword blow, "And for that I know I must die."_

"_Then er...speak of this to no-one and er...I shall be lenient." The man said realising that he could still get the horse._

"_We have other horses, Highness, Younger, if that is your wish."_

_The man looked out over the horizon and said "I wish for nothing more_

_than to be free of my gilded cage." He threw some gold to the ground near the woman and told her " For your silence." Then without a look back he rode off leaving the girl there with the gold. _

Adam and Nicky looked at each other and Adam and his friend left. Nicky turned to Jackie who hadn't seemed to notice a thing. "Do you know who that was?" she asked.

Jackie nodded halfway through a carrot. "That was the French Ambassador's son Adam and his friend Laurie…"

Nicky laughed the vision forgotten as she saw her friend sigh.

The three of them walked back to their dorm as Maggie made Nicky unpack her things.

"That Adam," Maggie almost drooled. "He's mine."

Jackie took one of Maggie's shirts from Nicky and helped her put them away. "I don't think so," Jackie whispered so only Nicky could hear.

**PLEASE REVEIW! **

**I like Reveiws and sorry slam-a-revolving-door, im about to steal ur idea, cause you stole mine (mwa ha ha ha ha ect)**

**Virtual Chocolate Cake for all reveiws!**

**I feel evil now...oh well...thanks **


	2. Roman ceilings

**Bold mean French**

Adam walked into the dorm he shared with his friend Laurie, his head still reeling from that…he refused to call it a vision, but then what was it? A weird dream? A trick of the light? Even with all his scientific knowledge he couldn't begin to think that what he had seen was just a 'trick of light'. He sat on the bed and pulled out a jacket.

"Are you alright?" Laurie asked him. Adam looked up just remembering that his friend was there.

"Fine," he mumbled pulling the jacket over his shoulders. He fell asleep before anymore could be said.

The next morning they forgot breakfast as Laurie woke Adam up. Laurie rolled his eyes as he answered his ringing mobile. "This will be for you," Adam looked up as Laurie showed him the caller ID.

Adam groaned and waited for Laurie to answer it. _"_**Hello Sir…**_"_

"**Put my son on Laurence."**

"**Right away sir."**

Adam rolled his eyes as he took the phone from his friend and fell back on the bed. **"Hello Father," **he said trying to withhold the sarcasm.

"**Adam, You promised us that you would at least Talk to Maria, you cannot just run off like that.."**

"**I did just run off like that Father. That is why I am here, Maria doesn't love me and I don't love her. Both parties are happy at the situation except it seems you and her parents. I don't want to talk about this now…"** Adam exchanged a look with Laurie and then saw the clock on the wall, _"_**Father, I have to go. So sorry, Bye."** He hung up before his father could say another word.

Laurie frowned as Adam rushed past him to his first class of the last year of Uni.

Adam rushed past the courtyard and ran into a lecturer coming the opposite way. A pile of papers flew everywhere and Adam couldn't not help him pick them up.

"I am so sorry sir," he said gathering the papers. Then he saw the name on the folder. "DeVasi? The famous DeVasi?"

The old man smiled, "Yes, but I'm only here because some ceiling in Rome fell down…" Adam smiled openly. "I've heard more about you then anyone else, please let me help you with this…" he took a few of the books and files and set out to follow the man, his class almost forgotten.

DeVasi took Adam to one of the many lecture rooms talking with him about his theories and ideals while Adam told him about his plans. DeVasi lead Adam inside to what turned out to be Adam's first class anyway.

Adam walked up to take a seat in the middle next to a girl with blonde hair. She turned around and coughed until he asked her if she needed a glass of water.

"No thanks," she said. "I'm Maggie, we met last night…"

Adam nodded, "I remember, you yelled at two people didn't you?"

"Well yes, but they were nobody. They don't mind."

Adam raised an eyebrow and waited for the lecture to begin.

At about 12 the lecture was finished so Adam went off to find Laurie, who was sitting with a girl with dark brown hair, another one from last night. Maggie followed Adam talking incessantly about things Adam didn't want to understand. He smiled to the girl next to Laurie and asked him to please come on. They needed to do something. The girl smiled as if she knew how much he wanted to get away from her sister.

"By Jackie," Laurie said solemnly as Jackie laughed and earned an evil look from her sister.


	3. Trying to fit in, born to stand out

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I OWN NOTHING**

**AN: This chapter might be a little odd. I was in a weird mood when i wrote it.**

* * *

"I've saved up," Nicky told Jackie one day, "I have enough to get Maurice back."

"Maurice? But where would he go?"

"The Manor! He could help the others there, your mother wont even notice."

Jackie looked dubious. "Are you sure?"  
Nicky nodded. "If he can be put to work to pay off your sisters debt then £20,000 should get him back."

"£20,000?"

"A little left from my father."

"Are you sure?" Jackie asked again.  
Nicky nodded again, "But I just need one more thing."

Nicole picked a dress from Maggie's room and waved it around in the air. "What do you think? Will this do?" Her friend Gus and her sister step sister Jackie looked worried as she went behind a screen to change.

* * *

"_Have you lost your marbles?" A young man exclaimed to a screen "Do you know what the punishment is…for servants who dress above their station? Five days in the stocks."_

"_You'd do the same for me, admit it." A laughing voice came through from behind a screen._

"_Me? Pretend to be a courtier? Prancing round like some nobleman when I've never been to court, And neither have you!"_

"_Then I won't be recognized." Logic, a woman's greatest ally next to sarcasm. "Hand me that gown so I can be on my way."_

"_They'll never buy it. You are too sweet." The man said with a hint of laughter in his voice. _

"_They'll never buy a servant with gold francs either. I am Maurice's only hope." _

_The young man picked up a small pot from a table and began to stir it's contents. "And the Baroness, what did you tell her?" _

"_I am picking wild flowers. Gustave, can you still see her?" _

_Gustave looked out the window, the small pot still in his hands, "They're buying a brooch." He said matter-of-factly._

"_Unbelievable. She ignores the manor, blames us for her debt...and still pretends to have money to burn. Don't you dare laugh. I'm coming out." A young lady…the same one who threw the apples, came out from behind the screen in a dress that fitted her ill but looked good nonetheless. "The shoes are too big." She said meekly. _

_Her friend smiled. "Nobody will be looking at your feet." _

"_Yards of fabric and I still feel naked." She said absent mindedly. _

"_If you're going to be a noblewoman..." her friend lifted up her face to look at him in the eyes. "...you must play the part. You look down to no-one." _

"_I am just a servant in a nice dress."_

_Her friend smiled again and looked at her face. "Come." He decided. "We have to do something with that hair."_

* * *

Nicky glanced up from the dress she had on and shook her head. She's hallucinating, that had to be it. Simply hallucinating. Gus looked at her oddly and shook his head as he tied up her hair, Jackie smiled and told her again and again how beautiful she looked. But that didn't help. She was nervous as anything. 

She waved to Jackie as she drove away from the French Ambassador's grand house Nicky now stood at the steps of. She walked up the stairs to the photographers and journalists waiting at the door. A guard came out to meet her moving the media away from the door saying "Let the lady through, get out of the way."

_Lady? Since when was she a lady?...The dress…it was all in the dress._

Nicky walked up to the 'nobles' who were chatting around a dance floor while several couples took to dancing. This was a new world to her, one that she was slightly afraid of.

She met a few people before slipping off to the kitchens to find her friend, Maurice. Maurice had been put to work in the kitchens because Maggie had a debt to pay to them, Maurice was her gold.

She found the kitchens easily enough and then through them was the area for the offices. Soon she found a large man sitting at a desk counting numbers.

"I wish to address the issue of one of your kitchen staff."

"Oh yeah? Which one?"

"Maurice Debarbarac, He is my servant and I am here

to pay the debt against him." Nicky showed him the cheque for the release of Maurice and the man laughed.

"You can have me for that much, but I have work to do, so please get out of my office."

"I demand you release him at once or I shall take this matter to the ambassador."

"The Ambassador's the one that sold him. 'Es now property of France."

"He's not property you ill mannered tub of guts. Do you think it right to chain people like chattel?" The man stood up and walked out to the ballroom fixing his tie as he went. Nicky followed him not caring what people thought of her and before he could get halfway across the room she jumped in front of him.

"Get out of my WAY!" the man growled very conscious that 300 people were watching them.

"Do you dare raise your voice to a lady?" Someone stepped out from the crowd and looked at them. It was Adam. Adam in a tux. Adam looking quite nice in a tux.

"Sorry sir," the man said numbly. "I meant no disrespect. Just…Just I got orders to keep this man till 'e worked of 'is debt."

Nicky stood to her full height of 163 centimeters and said in a voice somehow unlike her own that "Servants are not thieves sir, and those who are cannot help themselves."

Adam looked interesting, "Well then, by all means. Enlighten us."

"If you suffer your people to be ill-educated

and their manners corrupted from infancy then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them what else is to be concluded, Sir but that you first make thieves and then punish them?"

The ambassador's son looked confused for a second or two and then recovered in good form. "Well then," he said surprised. "It's a little 16th century, but a solid argument all the same. Release the man."

The fat man looked shocked but complied taking Nicky's money.

"Thank you sir." She said and walked through the crowd and almost made it to the door before he caught up with her.

"Have we met?" he asked her walking with her.

"I do not think so sir."

"I would have sworn that I knew every high born in Cambridge."

"I am staying with a cousin, sir."

"Who?"

"My cousin."

"Yes, you told me that, which one?"

"I only have one."

"I thought being coy was something only school girls do or do you honestly not want to tell me your name."

"No!" Nicky cried causing several people to look at them disapprovingly, "and yes."

"Then what is your cousins name? Then I can ask her to tell me who you are. Anyone who can quote Thomas More is well worth the effort."

"You've read Utopia?"

He nodded obviously annoyed at where this conversation was going. "Dull book." He saw the look on her face and doubled back. "Am I to think that you find me arrogant?"

"Well, you gave one back his life, but did you even look at the others?"

Adam looked back at the fat man leaving through to door to the kitchens while Nicky darted off.

Adam caught up with her quickly and pulled her back. "I'm begging you, a name. Any name?"

"Any name?" Adam nodded. "I'm sorry to say the only name to give you is that of Danielle Deloncre."

"There," he smiled wickedly. "That wasn't so hard was it?"

Nicky smiled as an elderly woman stepped out of the crowd looking for her son. "Adam! I need to you meet someone."

"Coming mother, just a sec-" Adam turned back to see Nicky stepping into a taxi and driving off.

Later that night as Nicky, Jackie and Gus waved off Maurice who was headed back to the manor they trekked up to their dorms.

"What was it like?" Jackie asked.

Nicky smiled. "Complicated."


	4. Walking on Water

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**Sorry it took so long...why is this in italics?...hmmm...oh well. anyway, really sorry. still, please reveiw.**_

_**Italicisd Disclaimer: Don't own it. do youi think someone with such bad spelling owns something like this? i don't Think so. **_

_

* * *

People filled every corner of a grand courtyard, a palace courtyard, dresses flowed, people laughed and talked and danced as though nothing was wrong. But something was, she knew it. She saw him run up to her, saw him marvel at her gown, and then take her hand. _

"_Come, I want you to meet someone," he said excitedly. _

"_Oh, I must speak with you," she said drawing back. _

"_Whatever it is, my answer is yes."_

"_No, Wait. Please." She really wanted to tell him something, why couldn't he see that? Was he blinded by something? By love?_

"_Look," he pointed to a group of people surrounding a table. "I invited the Gypsies." She smiled, she thought he would. Before they could reach the end of a long carpet, someone threw herself in front of them. _

"_She is an impostor sire."_

_Suddenly, she screamed "No!"_

"_Her name is Danielle de Barbarac, She has been a servant in my household for ten years."_

_The king, for that must be the king in all his finery stood up "A servant? Is this some kind of joke?"_

"_Baroness you are on Dangerous ground." He told her struggling to keep his voice even. _

"_Ask her yourself," was the response. "She's a grasping, devious little pretender, and it is my duty to expose her as the covetous hoax she is." _

_He turned to the lady at his side. "Tell these women who you are!" He looked at her face, what he saw there they didn't know. "Tell them!"_

_The Baroness, for that is what she was, screeched. "Bow to royalty you insolent fraud."_

_The lady looked to the ground as the man exclaimed, "My God, it can't be true. Nicole?"_

"_Nicole__de Lancret was my mother," tears ran down her face freely as the man turned in disgust. "I am what she says."_

"_The apple. That was you?" he took his hand away from hers as though it was diseased. _

"_I can explain-"_

"_Well, someone had better!" The king called out. _

"_First your engaged…and now you're a servant? I've had enough" the man began to walk away until the woman called out. _

"_Henry please." The many guests watching this exchange gasped and murmured. His Name?_

"_Do not address me so informal madam. I am a Prince of France. And you, are just like them."_

_The woman sobbed and ran from the room._

* * *

Nicky and Adam both woke up with a start. What was that? 

Nicky got up from her bed and poured herself a glass of water and looked out the window. A light was on in the dorm across the garden, the expensive dorms. She smiled and lay back down to sleep. She didn't sleep though.

Adam had bags under his eyes as he sat in the dining hall and picked at his food. Laurie tried to tempt him with some coffee, but it wouldn't work. He felt so…wretched. Like…like he'd betrayed someone.

He walked around the campus, he didn't have a class until that afternoon and so he sat at the fountain while DeVasi, the lecturer tried out one of Da Vinci's machines in the fountain. "Are you sure that's save?" he called out as the lecturer put on some odd looking shoes and stepped carefully out onto the water.

"No, but that is half the fun of it." He told Adam. "Not knowing!"

Adam rolled his eyes, he knew what was coming. "Like Love."

"Love? What is love?"

"That my boy can only be answered by the two people _in_ love." Adam smiled.

"And how do they know?"

"They do."

"Then, let's say... God puts two people on earth... and they are lucky enough to find one another. But... one of them gets hit by lightning. Well, then what?

Is that it? Or perchance you meet someone new and start all over again. Is that the one you should be with? Or was it the first? When the two of them are side by side, were they both the one for you... and you just met the first one first? Or is the second one supposed to be first? And is everything just chance... or are some things meant to be?" By the end of that, Adam wasn't the only on confused.

"You cannot leave everything to fate, boy. She's got a lot to do. Sometimes you must give her a hand."

Adam smiled and heard someone yelp and a splash as DeVasi and some poor student fell into the fountain. "DeVasi?"

He saw the lecturer pull himself out of the fountain, followed by the girl from the party last night. Danielle.

"Danielle, here, let me help you." He tried to block out the smile DeVasi was giving him as he took off his heavy jacket and wrapped it around the saturated girl's shoulders.

"Thank you," she said and sat down on the edge of the fountain. "What were you doing Sir?" she asked DeVasi.

"Discovering that the walking on water is best left to the son of God."

She laughed which made Adam want to laugh, but he held it in and smiled.

They talked for a while, not about anything important until she stole a glance at the time and took off, saying that she had a class. DeVasi smiled as Adam helped him put his things away, but Adam's mind was elsewhere, in fact, Adam's mind was running towards a dorm where Maggie would be waving a notice proclaiming a ball in front of Danielle's face, telling her that this would be the perfect opportunity for her to 'snag' Adam.

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**PLEASE REVEIW i live on them**

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	5. Sneaky

**DO NOT OWN IT! I PROMISESE**

**This University they're at – Cambridge – I have photos of, but have never actually been to and thus the 'artistic license' with several of the utilities. Please no flames. **

Maggie wondered around the hall looking for that certain slimy someone. He would have to have an 'all access' pass, and there weren't many of them lying around.

Then, there he was, a small insignificant man no bigger than four feet tall dressed as a higher class waiter, fussing around for the ball the next night.

"Hello," she walked up to him wiggling her hips.

He looked up at her and smiled a cunning smile. "And what can I do for you ma'am?"

Maggie smiled, this was easier than she thought it would be. "I need…information."

"Information? On what? Or should I say whom?"

"Very perceptive of you. The Ambassador's son Adam, I want to know where he goes, who he sees, everything."

"Couldn't you hire a detective for that?"

"What? And miss out on meeting you? I don't think so, I needed someone who would go unnoticed everywhere, and you only stand out to me."

She placed a few hundred pound notes in the man's hand and walked up making sure he watched her leave. It was all in place now. Everything.

Now all she had to do was get _that_ dress. The one Nicky had in her wardrobe, she'd always wanted that dress and someone like _Nicky_ didn't deserve it. She looked hideous in it anyway. Tuesday came, a day Maggie was pretty sure Nicky had work to do, and so she stole into the room and was dancing around in the dress, imagining herself in Adam's arms when Jackie peeked in through the door.

Jackie ran to the coffee shop where Nicky was working and blurted out "Nick! You'd better stop her…she's got your dress." Nicky didn't need another word, she ran to the dormitory, Jackie at her heels to see Maggie looking for the shoes that went with the dress.

"What do you think you're doing?" Nicky walked in having a vague vision of a lady falling off a bed in a large red dress while another screeched at her, she shook her head. She was hallucinating.

"Trying on this dress," Maggie didn't look to scared to see Nicky there, in fact, she didn't see why Nicky should have any 'claim' on the dress whatsoever.

"You're trying to 'capture' Adam aren't you? It's sick, you think he's some kind of sport!"

"Your just jealous!" Maggie held the dress tightly to her chest as Nicky advanced. Maggie was getting a little bit uncertain now.

"That was my mother's dress."

"So? She's Dead! Has been for years!"

That snapped the fragile thread in Nicky's mind. "I'll kill you," she called as she jumped at Maggie who fell over the bed not unlike Nicky's vision.

Maggie's sharp, fake, manicured nails grabbed Nicky's back, causing deep cuts to develop that would really smart later on when Nicky's mind wasn't as occupied as it was. Then, Maggie grabbed something off the bedside table and ran out. Jackie had to stand back as Nicky ran after her. They ended up at the pool gathering a small crowd around them but neither one cared. When Jackie caught up and moved to the front she saw Maggie standing on the edge of the pool holding Nicky's faded and worn copy of _Utopia_ and the shoes over the cold water as Nicky stopped short.

"Your Dad's book or your Mum's shoes. Which one?"

Nicky looked to Jackie and searched her eyes. What Maggie was doing was horrible, but they couldn't think of a way out of it.

"The book," Nicky said almost silently.

"Pardon?"

"The Book!" Nicky called reaching for the cinder covered papers. Maggie looked at her pretending to consider before throwing the book into the water.

Nicky didn't hesitate, as Maggie made her way smugly back to the common room, she dived into the icy water and retrieved the book. Jackie and Gus hauled her from the water as she came up, but she couldn't save the book. The ink had run until the book was simply black marks.

She sobbed as Gus hugged her and pulled her up to the dormitory. "Come on," he said calmly, "we need those scratches looked at."

Jackie followed them watching Nicky clutch the book to her chest. That was her life and Maggie had just dropped it into a pool. How hard hearted can you get?

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PLEASE REVEIW


	6. The Ruins

**Disclaimer: not mine**

**AN: sorry again. :) please don't hold it against me. please, still reveiw. **

* * *

She woke up and felt a stark contrast on her back, the hot red burning pain of the scratches and the cool, calm cloth being applied by someone. She turned her head and saw Gus sitting on Jackie's bed reading and Jackie with the cloth.

"Good morning sleepy-head" Gus said softly.

"Hey," she croaked.

"Hey Nick," Jackie smiled setting aside the cloth. "I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing-saw it done in a movie once."

She tried to laugh only to find it hurt and so stopped. "That wasn't one of my smarter moments was it."

"No," Gus said truthfully, but it was one of the more entertaining." He smiled as she threw her pillow at him and sighed.

"She should not have said that about your mother," Jackie said softly.

"It's true." Nicky said.

"Yes, but not like that."

There was a knock on the door and Adam stood there looking drenched from the rain outside. Jackie and Gus 'discretely' walked outside smiling as he came to sit next to Nicky.

"Hello."

"Hi."

He bit his lip and then knelt by her bed. His hands came up to cup her face and she smiled. "You've known me a couple of days."

"Practically a lifetime." He grinned and kissed her slowly.

Maggie stepped out of the taxi at the grand building beaming. Her suit was smart and clean, her shoes sparkled, she was ready.

"The Ambassador will see you now." Her man said showing her through the rooms.

"Ahh," the Ambassador was a grand lady, her hair upswept and her eyes fortified. "Miss de Ghent how lovely of you to come. Your mother was a dear friend of mine at school and I was so anxious to meet you. Please, have a seat."

She sat and waited with bated breath, he should be here any minute. "You have another sister yes? Oh sad she could not make it."

Maggie nodded and smiled, "yes, she sends her sincere apologies."

"On that note," the ambassador smiled, "I'm afraid the men in my family send their apologies as well. My son has disappeared again."

"Ah…"

­­

Nicky met Adam at the café and it was one of those moments that should be mentioned but not in detail. They laughed and they played, but it was insignificance made it significant.

That night, Nicky sat on her bed and had decided adamantly. She knew what she had to do. The first thing the next morning.

_She walked across the ruins, her dark dress rustling across the leaves, she could still feel the lashings across her back, she stood tall and walked and waited. He was sitting on one of the old windows, _Utopia_ in his hands. He finally saw the beauty in the words she saw-at least, a small part of it. _

_"Hello" _

_"Hello" _

_He jumped down to talk to her properly. She looked ill. "Are you well?" _

_She averted her eyes, not meeting his. "I fear that I am not myself today." _

_He laughed which, in retrospect mightn't have been the best idea. "__I feel as if my skin is the only thing keeping me from going everywhere at once." _

_She sighed, this was so hard, why is this so hard? "There is something I must tell you." _

_"And I you." He was like an eager child, he held out the book. "oh, here, you left this in the café the other day." _

_"Sir-" _

_"Adam." _

_"Adam…" it seemed that just his name was enough to break her now. "I cannot stay long, but I had to see you. There is much to say" _

_"Come." _

_"I cannot stay long, but I had to see you." _

_"I want to show you something." He wouldn't stop. "I used to play here as a boy. It was my father's most cherished retreat...before the war." _

_She sighed, that was all she could do at the moment. "It's beautiful." _

_"I've measured my life by these trees...starting here...all the way up there. And still they grow so much life to live...but I no longer imagine it alone." _

_"You're not making this easy." _

_He smiled. "I have not slept for fear I would wake to find all this a dream.Oh, last night, I had a revelation. I used to think, if I cared at all, I would have to care about everything, and I'd go stark raving mad. But... now I've found my purpose. It's a project actually inspired by you. I feel...the most wonderful…feedom. Nicole. You are unlike any courtier I have ever met. Tomorrow, at the masque...I shall make it known to the world. Why did you have to be so wonderful? Now, then. What was it you wanted to tell me?" _

_"Simply that…last night was the happiest night of my life." His grin brightened her a little and she let herself be hugged and kissed until his clasp reached her scratches on her back. _

_"Ow!" she yelped and pulled away. _

_"Nicole!" _

_"I'm sorry. I must go." _

Nicky sprang awake and threw on her coat, running out to the ruins. He was already there, a long old fashioned coat covering his shoulders.

"Did you?"  
She nodded and walked up to him. She knew what she was supposed to do here, to do what the girl in her dream could not. But just like her, she couldn't. Just like her, she left herself be pulled into his arms. But her scratches didn't pull her away.


End file.
